Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Shift 2 Unleashed

Shift 2 Unleashed offers up an upgraded experience from its predecessor. An enhanced variety of cars and tracks help broaden the scope and appeal of this game. Slightly Mad Studios went bonkers and spared no expense to deliver and expand Shift apart from the initial title. Racing can now be done at night with this new title. Are you ready for this new experience? Shift 2 Unleashed will be reviewed by me in this blog post.

This review is based on my PS3 experience of this game.

--- Shift 2 Unleashed ---

^ from: amazon.com - Shift 2 Unleashed.

While part of the Need for Speed franchise, "Shift 2 Unleashed" is not an NFS title, per se. You aren't trying to outrun police or try to earn street cred. So some people just call this game as Shift 2 Unleashed. Any NFS game with "Unleashed" usually means Electronic Arts will spare no expense to deliver the most intense experience to its players.

The fellow who will help you in your career for this game is drifting star Vaughn Gittin Jr. You will also encounter some other real-world motorsports talent such as Tommy Milner, Jamie Campbell-Walter, and more. It is Vaughn Gittin Jr. letting you know what's up in racing in S2U. He's your friend... until you do the final Drift series. Well, he's still your friend in every other series.

You can race almost any course at night in addition to in the daytime and at dusk.
Your ultimate goal in this game is to race in the FIA GT1 World Championship. You're going to need to do a great deal of racing to reach this championship. You will need to do a lot more to win it.

There is now an Autolog feature, which serves primarily as your social networking medium within the game. Each time you beat a record or want to share photos or videos, Autolog will allow you and your online friends to see your work. You can also compare your stats and times against your friends. So... feel free trying to better your friends in S2U! :)

--- Shift 2 Unleashed: Details ---

Here is a look at the finer details of this game.

Cars.

All of the cars represent America, Europe, and Japan. They also represent cars of today and the past. The various cars are all styled beautifully and can be tuned to be totally dominant. Cars are classified in classes from D to A. The A-Class cars are the immensely capable cars.

A more diverse tuning menu accompanies each car. Be careful tuning certain cars because some modifications can take your car out of a certain classification. Certain races will disqualify certain cars from appearing in a championship or a race if they are in a different class level. Just like in the first Shift, you can upgrade any car from its original class (assuming it's not an A-Class car) to a higher class.

The extreme in tuning a car is bringing it to Works spec. If you have tuned a car to such a degree, a Works package gives your car the absolute final touch in becoming an absolute beast. Its performance capabilities will far exceed the stock car's performance limits and become your own dream race car. You can take your best Works car to the Works championship in "Shift 2 Unleashed." Not all cars, however, have Works packages available.

You can customize your car's visual appearance with many paint and vinyl options as well as wheel choices. Cars can also be fitted with body kits and interior options to take your car from production to pure racing machine. Be sure to set aside some time to make your car YOUR car with these visual options.

Tracks.

A lot of the tracks from the first Shift return for "Shift 2 Unleashed." In addition to some of the returning tracks, you can now race in the Middle East, China, and even Australia. Some of the new tracks include the Dubai Autodrome and Bathurst (Mount Panorama Circuit). Gone are drift-specific courses in favor of full-lap drift courses. There are, however, maybe one or few point-to-point drift zones. You certainly do one around Irwindale.

Tracks can be raced in the daytime, evening, and night. Few courses aren't available at night, but almost all are. The same driving aids from the first Shift are available to you. Try racing a course at night to try to attack the corners while also dealing with darkness.

Race Types.

These are some of the many options available to you:

• Race - just a basic race.

• Time Attack - either solo or with other cars, you compete to score the fastest lap time. Set the opponents to zero in Quick mode to do your own time trial.

• Hot Lap Gauntlet - you are given a few laps to try to clear the fastest lap time. If successful, you win. If not, you are rewarded based on which lap time you surpass. You get only a handful of laps to try to beat the best lap time. These events will give you a certain car to use as a loaner, so no need to purchase a car beforehand. Best news is that you can use these events to help

• Drift - try to score the most points to surpass the three best drift points.

• Eliminator - a certain time limit is allowed. As time ticks down, the last-placed driver is eliminated. The race will resume until one is left standing.

• Endurance - long-distance racing is what Endurance is all about. Try to sustain your energy and plan your attack efficiently to win these events.

Other kinds of racing are featured, but these are the majority of events. Autolog will even recommend events just for you based on preference and what you like to drive. Friends of yours can even recommend you events to take part in.

--- "Shift 2 Unleashed" Final Thoughts and Review ---

I've heard so much about how the handling model is too loose compared to the first Shift game. Really, I haven't noticed too much difference. The one thing I really don't like about Shift 2 Unleashed is the Helmet Cam. It gets too confusing trying to use the Helmet Cam. As an advantage, it looks ahead to the next corner. Trouble is, it just gets confusing trying to keep the car on the road while the Helmet Cam makes it a bit tougher to properly set your car up for a corner.

This game is actually harder than the first Shift. Its biggest flaw is that there are some bugs that make this game quite a bit less desirable to play. I sometimes have noted the AI drivers would be stuck after some wrecks. That even include wrecks I've intentionally and unintentionally caused. I even once raced against a friend of mine online and for some reason, his car just stopped (and I nearly hit him!). So I ended up winning thanks to a bug. The bugs aren't problematic and persistent, though. Just be careful when playing.

Okay- both Shift games are great. I can't really say I have a preference towards either this one or the first Shift. I know I'm an American, but I sometimes I'd prefer having some well-respected European figure as a voice-over rather than an American. There's nothing really wrong with Vaughn Gittin Jr. as the main voiceover.

Do you want to get this game if you don't have it already? Help support my work by buying on Amazon:

Speaking of Amazon, people gave the first Shift a 3.5 star rating while about 2 stars for "Shift 2 Unleashed." Still- my reviews are only my own stand on games. Take the advice or leave it. That's all I ask. Thank you for reading! Race 'em hard! :)

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